Two things are certain in your academic life. Exams and assignments. Book reports rank high among various assignments you may encounter throughout your study. These assignments are meant to give your tutor a view of how you understood a given book and your ability to make out the plot, setting, characters, tone, and theme of a given book.
Book reports may also highlight why you chose a given novel and your thoughts on the approach taken by the author to designing a given novel. Unfortunately, book reports may prove challenging on your first try.
Here, we’ll discuss the steps for writing a book review and highlight the book report structure and tips for starting your book report.
How to make a book report
- Pick a book
Often, book report assignments offer you the flexibility to select any book you are comfortable handling. This allows you to find an interesting novel, ensuring that you retain your motivation throughout your writing process.
When picking a book, check the guidelines provided in your assignment or consult your tutor for clarification of the genre of novels for your assignment.
- Read the novel
Making a quality book report without reading the book is a surefire way to tackle erroneous ideas within your paper. It is thus great that you read the novel while jotting down the key points, themes, and scenes that bring out your desired theme.
Doing this helps you make credible arguments for your topic, and also gives you original insights that ensure quality book report papers.
- Reread the book while highlighting the quotes that bring out your arguments
After the first coverage of the book, revisit the book while taking stock of quotes that you will use to support arguments within your paper.
- Outline
You are bound to encounter a wide range of ideas when preparing a book report. These ideas may confuse you, making it hard for you to prepare a coherent paper. his
Before writing your paper, develop a book report outline highlighting the key points within various sections of your paper. This outline will make for easy writing allowing you to organize the ideas you intend to tackle within your paper.
- Writing and Editing
After developing your outline, write your paper while using relevant transitions from one idea to another for a smooth flow. After writing your paper, dedicate time to editing your work, ensuring grammatical correctness and adherence to the structure, formatting, and writing guidelines.
Book report format
The book report is divided into three main sections including the introduction, the body, and a conclusion. the book report introduction should hook the reader into your report and highlight the elements that interested you in the book.
This chapter should also highlight the objectives of your report, giving the reader a criterion for gauging your paper. The body expands on the ideas within your paper, using various quotes from the book as support for various claims.
Your conclusion should express your thoughts on a book and summarize your opinion regarding how the author managed to express the theme you were investigating and the issues that compromised this goal.
How to start a book report
Opening your book report can make or break your reader’s interest in your work. Ideally, your opening should hook the reader into your work and establish the goal of your book report.
Some of the ways of opening your book report include:
- Echoing a quote from the book
This opening is a great way to bring your reader’s focus to your theme, without much struggle. This quote should highlight a key theme of your report, making for a smooth transition into your arguments.
- Rhetorical questions
Another great way to open your book report is by asking rhetorical questions that highlight a theme that you intend to tackle within the report. These rhetorical questions should highlight the goals of your book report, bringing the reader’s focus to your objectives.
Preferably, use open-ended questions to spark your reader’s curiosity, driving them to read your book review for answers.
- Book Summary
Alternatively, you could start your report by providing a book summary and transitioning into the elements under analysis.
Final take
We hope that this guide has helped you to clarify any issues you were facing with your book report. We also recommend that you find a simple book report template to familiarize yourself with the book report format. Feel free to reach out for expert guidance on various elements of a book report with which you could be struggling.